Numbers 31

1 And YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

2 “Execute the vengeance of the sons of Israel against the Midianites—afterward you are gathered to your people.”

“First, avenge the sons of Israel from the Midianites, and then you shall be gathered to your people.”

3 And Moses speaks to the people, saying, “Arm men from [among] you for the war, and they are against Midian, to put the vengeance of YHWH on Midian;

And immediately Moses said: “Arm the men among you for a battle, so that they may be able to fulfill the retribution of the Lord on the Midianites.

4 one thousand for a tribe—you send one thousand for a tribe, of all the tribes of Israel, to the war.”

Let one thousand men be chosen from each tribe of Israel, who shall be sent to war.”

5 And there are given out of the thousands of Israel one thousand for a tribe—twelve thousand armed ones [for] war;

And they gave one thousand from each tribe, that is, twelve thousand foot soldiers for battle.

6 and Moses sends them, one thousand for a tribe, to the war; [he sent] them and Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the war, with the holy vessels and the trumpets of shouting in his hand.

And Moses sent them with Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest; also, he delivered to him the holy vessels, and the trumpets to sound.

7 And they war against Midian, as YHWH has commanded Moses, and slay every male;

And when they had fought against the Midianites and had prevailed, they killed all the men.

8 and they have slain the kings of Midian besides their pierced ones: Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba—five kings of Midian; and they have slain Balaam son of Beor with the sword.

And they put to death by the sword their kings: Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, the five leaders of the nation, and also Balaam the son of Beor.

9 And the sons of Israel take the women of Midian and their infants captive; and they have plundered all their livestock, and all their substance, and all their wealth;

And they seized their women and little ones, and all their cattle, and all their goods; whatever they were able to have, they despoiled.

10 and they have burned all their cities, with their habitations, and all their towers, with fire.

Both their cities and their villages, as well as their fortresses, they burned.

11 And they take all the spoil and all the prey, among man and among beast;

And they carried away prey from everything that they had seized, both of men and of beasts.

12 and they bring in the captives, and the prey, and the spoil to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the sons of Israel, to the camp, to the plains of Moab, which [are] by the Jordan, [near] Jericho.

And they led these to Moses and Eleazar the priest, and to all the multitude of the sons of Israel. But the remainder of the articles they carried to the camp on the plains of Moab, next to the Jordan, opposite Jericho.

13 And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, go out to meet them, to the outside of the camp,

Then Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the assembly went out to meet them beyond the camp.

14 and Moses is angry against the inspectors of the force, chiefs of the thousands, and chiefs of the hundreds, who are coming in from the warfare of battle.

And Moses, being angry with the leaders of the army, and the tribunes, and the centurions, who had arrived from the battle,

15 And Moses says to them, “Have you kept every female alive?

said: “Why have you spared the females?

16 Behold, they have been to the sons of Israel, through the word of Balaam, to cause a trespass against YHWH in the matter of Peor, and the plague is in the congregation of YHWH.

Are not these the ones who deceived the sons of Israel at the suggestion of Balaam, and who caused you betray the Lord by the sin of Peor, because of which the people also were struck down?

17 And now, slay every male among the infants, indeed, slay every woman knowing a man by the lying of a male;

Therefore, put to death all of them: whatever is of the male sex, even among the little ones, and cut the throats of those women who have known men by sexual relations.

18 and all the infants among the women who have not known the lying of a male you have kept alive for yourselves.

But the young girls, and all female virgins, reserve for yourselves.

19 And you, encamp at the outside of the camp [for] seven days; any who has slain a person, and any who has come against a pierced one, cleanse yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day—you and your captives;

And remain beyond the camp for seven days. Whoever has killed a man, or who has touched one that was killed, shall be purified on the third day and on the seventh day.

20 and every garment, and every skin vessel, and every work of goats’ [hair], and every wooden vessel, you yourselves cleanse.”

And all of the spoils, whether it is a garment, or a vessel, or another useful thing, made from the pelts or hair of goats, or from wood, shall be expiated.”

21 And Eleazar the priest says to the men of war who go to battle, “This [is] the statute of the law which YHWH has commanded Moses:

Likewise, Eleazar the priest spoke in this manner to the men of the army who had fought: “This is the precept of the law, which the Lord has commanded Moses:

22 only the gold, and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead,

Gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin,

23 everything which may go into fire, you cause to pass over through fire, and it has been clean; it is surely cleansed with the water of separation; and all that may not go into fire, you cause to pass over through water;

and all that may be able to pass through fire, shall be purified by fire. But whatever is not able to sustain fire shall be sanctified with the waters of expiation.

24 and you have washed your garments on the seventh day and have been clean, and afterward you come into the camp.”

And you shall wash your garments on the seventh day, and, after having been purified, you shall enter the camp.”

25 And YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,

And the Lord also said to Moses:

26 “Take up the sum of the prey of the captives, among man and among beast, you, and Eleazar the priest, and the heads of the fathers of the congregation;

“Take the sum of those things which were captured, from man even to beast, you and Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the common people.

27 and you have halved the prey between those handling the battle, who go out to the war, and all the congregation;

And you shall divide the prey equally, among those who went out to war and fought, and among the remainder of the multitude.

28 and you have raised a tribute to YHWH from the men of battle, who go out to the war, one body out of five hundred, of man, and of the herd, and of the donkeys, and of the flock;

And you shall separate a portion for the Lord from the portion of those who fought and were in the battle: one soul out of five hundred, as much from humans, as from oxen and donkeys and sheep.

29 you take from their half and have given [it] to Eleazar the priest [as] a raised-offering of YHWH.

And you shall give it to Eleazar the priest, because these are the first-fruits of the Lord.

30 And from the sons of Israel’s half you take one possession out of fifty, of man, of the herd, of the donkeys, and of the flock, of all the livestock, and you have given them to the Levites keeping the charge of the Dwelling Place of YHWH.”

Likewise, from the half of the portion belonging to the sons of Israel, you shall receive the fiftieth head of humans, and of oxen, and donkeys, and sheep, and of all living things, and you shall give these to the Levites who stand watch over the care of the tabernacle of the Lord.”

31 And Moses does—Eleazar the priest also—as YHWH has commanded Moses.

And Moses and Eleazar did just as the Lord had instructed.

32 And the prey, the remainder of the spoil which the people of the host have spoiled, is six hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thousand of the flock;

Now the prey which the army had seized was six hundred seventy-five thousand sheep,

33 and seventy-two thousand of the herd;

seventy-two thousand oxen,

34 and sixty-one thousand donkeys;

sixty-one thousand donkeys,

35 and of mankind—of the women who have not known the lying of a male—all the persons [are] thirty-two thousand.

and thirty-two thousand human lives, of the female sex, who had not known men.

36 And the half, the portion of those who go out into the war, is [in] number three hundred thousand and thirty thousand and seven thousand and five hundred of the flock.

And one half of the portion was given to those who had been in the battle: three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep.

37 And the tribute to YHWH of the sheep is six hundred seventy-five;

From these, for the portion of the Lord, there were accounted: six hundred seventy-five sheep;

38 and the herd [is] thirty-six thousand, and their tribute to YHWH [is] seventy-two;

and from the thirty-six thousand oxen, seventy-two oxen;

39 and the donkeys [are] thirty thousand and five hundred, and their tribute to YHWH [is] sixty-one;

from the thirty thousand five hundred donkeys, sixty-one donkeys.

40 and of mankind [are] sixteen thousand, and their tribute to YHWH [is] thirty-two persons.

From the sixteen thousand human souls, there fell to the portion of the Lord thirty-two souls.

41 And Moses gives the tribute—YHWH’s raised-offering—to Eleazar the priest, as YHWH has commanded Moses.

And Moses delivered the number of the first-fruits of the Lord to Eleazar the priest, just as had been commanded of him,

42 And of the sons of Israel’s half, which Moses halved from the men who war—

from the one half portion belonging to the sons of Israel, which he had separated from the portion of those who had been in the battle.

43 and the congregation’s half is three hundred thousand and thirty thousand [and] seven thousand and five hundred of the flock;

Yet truly, from the one half portion which fell to the remainder of the multitude, that is, from the three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,

44 and thirty-six thousand of the herd;

and from the thirty-six thousand oxen,

45 and thirty thousand and five hundred donkeys;

and from the thirty thousand five hundred donkeys,

46 and sixteen thousand of mankind—

and from the sixteen thousand persons,

47 Moses takes from the sons of Israel’s half one possession from the fifty, of man and of beast, and gives them to the Levites keeping the charge of the Dwelling Place of YHWH, as YHWH has commanded Moses.

Moses took the fiftieth head, and gave it to the Levites who stand watch at the tabernacle of the Lord, just as the Lord had instructed.

48 And the inspectors whom the thousands of the host have (heads of the thousands and heads of the hundreds), draw near to Moses,

And when the leaders of the army, and the tribunes, and the centurions had approached Moses, they said:

49 and they say to Moses, “Your servants have taken up the sum of the men of war who [are] with us, and not a man of us has been missed;

“We, your servants, have taken a census of the number of the fighting men, whom we had under our hand, and indeed not one was lacking.

50 and we bring YHWH’s offering near, each of that which he has found of vessels of gold—chain, and bracelet, seal-ring, [ear]-ring, and bead—to make atonement for ourselves before YHWH.”

For this reason, we offer as gifts to the Lord whatever gold each one was able to find amid the spoils, in anklets and arm bands, rings and bracelets, and little chains, so that you may intercede for us to the Lord.”

51 And Moses receives—Eleazar the priest also—the gold from them, every vessel of workmanship;

And Moses and Eleazar the priest received all the gold in its various kinds,

52 and all the gold of the raised-offering which they have lifted up to YHWH is sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels, from heads of the thousands and from heads of the hundreds;

weighing sixteen thousand seven hundred fifty shekels, from the tribunes and the centurions.

53 (the men of the host have each taken spoil for himself);

For whatever each one had taken away in the spoils was his own.

54 and Moses takes—Eleazar the priest also—the gold from the heads of the thousands and of the hundreds, and they bring it into the Tent of Meeting [as] a memorial for the sons of Israel before YHWH.

And having been accepted, they took it into the tabernacle of the testimony, as a memorial of the sons of Israel before the Lord.